Strong collaboration on the community growth space Snjallræði
Ragnhildur Helgadóttir, President of Reykjavik University, and Jón Atli Benediktsson, Rector of the University of Iceland, signed an agreement last week on the increased collaboration of RU with Höfði Reykjavík Peace Center and the University of Iceland on the community growth space Snjallræði.
Snjallræði is intended to highlight and promote new solutions that support the United Nations‘ Sustainable Development Goals and solve the pressing challenges of our time. There may be solutions related to healthcare, welfare technology, improved education systems, and equality issues, for example.
"The university community needs to join hands when urgent solutions to contemporary challenges are on the one hand. We are happy to see Reykjavik University entering the project with so much energy. RU has been a partner of Snjallræði ever since the accelerator first took place in 2018, but now it is coming in much more powerfully than before," says Jón Atli Benediktsson, Rector of the University of Iceland.
"We are proud to have been part of this project since 2018 and are extremely happy to strengthen the involvement of RU further. Universities play a crucial role in finding solutions to the challenges we face. For RU, it is also essential that all students, including those not in the technical field, have the opportunity to learn about innovation“, says Ragnhildur Helgadóttir, President of Reykjavik University.
This year, ten start-up companies that work on diverse solutions, from circular solutions in the food and construction industries to solutions de
signed to promote entrepreneurial skills among children and provide an easier path to increased opportunities for girls with ADHD, were selected to participate in Snjallræði.
"We have just entered into a partnership with MITdesignX for the next three years regarding their involvement in Snjallræði. MITdesignX will organize four two-day workshops over 16 weeks, from the end of August to the beginning of December. The increased participation of Reykjavik University will be of great use, and we are, of course, happy that the collaboration is getting stronger over the years," says Pia Hansson, Director of the Institute of International Affairs.
Hallur Þór Sigurðsson lektor í viðskiptafræðideild, Kolfinna Kristínardóttir, Project Manager at Klak, Ragnhildur Helgadóttir, President RU, Auður Örlygsdóttir, Program Manager at Höfði Reykjavík Peace Centre, Pia Hansson, forstöðumaður Alþjóðamálastofnunar, Svafa Grönfeldt, Founding member of MIT's innovation accelerator DesignX and Katrín Sif Oddgeirsdóttir, Project Manager RU.
Snjallræði is now taking place for the fourth time since its inception, and the teams are currently participating in the third MITdesignX workshop this term under the guidance of Svafa Grönfeldt and her team from MITdesignX. This is the second year in a row that KLAK is in charge of implementing the accelerator; KLAK has years of experience in innovation and developing business ideas in Iceland. The final day of Snjallræði 2022 will take place in Gróska on Wednesday, December 7. Then everyone interested will have the opportunity to learn more about the teams that participated this year and their meaningful solutions.
